When Kelly Slater clinched his 10th world surfing championship in November the New York Times dubbed the 38-year-old Florida native "Neptune on a Shortboard." His victory at the Rip Curl Pro in Puerto Rico sealed the deal, and put a nice cap on a pro career that began in 1990, when H.W. Bush was still in the Oval Office. Two years later 20-year-old Slater became the sport's youngest world champion before the Clintons even moved to Pennsylvania Avenue.

Having cemented his place as the undisputed king of surfing by the end of the 90s Slater's anonymity at home perplexed his worldwide fans, the same fans who are hoping his latest milestone will somehow remedy the injustice. Forgive them.

After all 10 is a nice bulbous number, one that's hard to ignore when it's linked to championship titles. And believe it or not, as Slater's latest record went viral on sporting blogs and sports talk radio even salty stick-and-ball prognosticators were compelled to examine his stats.

When they did they found two decades of dominance in a pursuit that demands perfect timing, agility, flexibility and balance. They discovered a competitive record that passed every smell test, and held up nicely against the best in any sport from any era. Naturally, that presented them with a new mental challenge: Can we really put this guy in the pantheon of great athletes?

Blinded by traditional sports orthodoxy Slater's appearances in mainstream sporting periodicals like Sports Illustrated and ESPN have always been limited to beefcake photo galleries and a few paragraphs of trivial text. He's never been given the honor of a cover on either. By contrast Outside Magazine, which touts the marginalized world of adventure sports athletes, has featured him eight times now, the latest one being their February issue with a cover blurb that reads: Kelly Slater's Perfect 10; The Greatest Sports Record of All Time (Damn Right).

After doing his own thorough examination of Kelly's career, Outside's editor Christopher Keyes took issue with SI and ESPN for their Slater snubs.

Now GQ Magazine is weighing in on the matter.

The leading arbiter of men's style just dedicated their February issue to the "Top 25 Coolest Athletes of All Time." And since style is ultimately synonymous with coolness the editors are standing on secure ground while acknowledging "the icons remembered and revered for their grace and style, and for playing the game like it was an expression of themselves."

Not surprisingly, the overlap between the coolest athletes of all time and the best is significant.

Not only did Slater make the list, he's one of nine legendary cats deemed worthy of their own collector cover. On GQ's coolness scale Slater ranks right up there with an elite collection of legends that includes: Muhammad Ali, Joe Namath, Julius Erving, Bjorn Borg, Michael Jordan, Arnold Palmer, Tom Brady and pitcher Tim Lincecum.

Fellow surfer William Finnegan, a staff writer for the New Yorker, puts Slater's inimitable swagger into words for GQ readers: "In a sport where hot kids constantly push the aerial envelope into outlandish new realms, Slater has never stopped innovating. He almost seems to get younger, looser, more original with the years."

Indeed, the last man standing in front of Slater's way this year was 22-year-old South African Jordy Smith, who was 4-years-old when Slater won his first title. Today, the 38-year old champ is eight years older than the next oldest.

But it's not Slater's records that define his coolness -- not his rock star friends or playboy past either. In the water or out Kelly Slater moves through his life situations as fluidly as the oceans he's mastered. To Kelly, life's journey is no different than one giant surf session. There's plenty of back-breaking paddling to do, but keep your head up and your eyes on the constantly scanning the horizon and soon enough you'll be enjoying a good ride. Kelly Slater is surfing well.

GQ Covers: Ali from Halsman archive, Slater from Tom Servais, Bjorn Borg by Walter Iooss Jr. SI, Getty
Outside Cover by Robert Maxwell